Banding American woodcock in the spring
by Bailey Peterson
“The early bird gets the worm.”
Obviously, whoever wrote that quote was referring to the woodcock returning to their breeding grounds in the springtime. For me, it’s one of the only things I think about as soon as the hunting season closes and, honestly, many other times during the year, too. There’s something reassuring about the arrival of the timberdoodle in the springtime – like the long-awaited homecoming of an old friend. Their reappearance marks the time when it’s usually safe to tuck the snowblower away for the year. A time when being outdoors with the dogs becomes more pleasant and the weather is warmer, which is always a welcome change after the long, cold winters us nonmigratory species endure in the northland. Their return sparks happy times – and there’s no group of people happier about the arrival of spring each year than those of us who band American woodcock with our trained pointing dogs.
Volunteer Programs in Michigan, Minnesota and Wisconsin
The banding of birds in the U.S. is controlled under the Migratory Bird Treaty Act and requires a federal banding permit. Currently, a few Great Lakes states have volunteer woodcock banding programs. Michigan’s is the longest standing program, followed by Minnesota, and Wisconsin recently became permitted for the activity last spring. Minnesota’s and Wisconsin’s programs are run together by the 501c3 nonprofit Woodcock Minnesota, which sponsors both states’ programs and hosts the annual certification workshops, dog testing and an active apprenticeship program. Michigan, which runs their program a little bit differently, currently has the largest group of banders than programs in Minnesota and Wisconsin. Basically, within each of these groups of bird nerds and pointing dog enthusiasts, there’s an individual or government entity qualified to hold what is called a master banding permit from the United States Geological Survey Bird Banding Laboratory. The others are volunteer participants who are included on a lengthy list of sub-permittees who have been trained and tested to a set standard and approved to band American woodcock. In order to get our bands each year in Minnesota and Wisconsin, all banders must pass an online refresher exam, which focuses heavily on banding protocols with special emphasis on bird welfare.
Identifying Spring Nesting Locations
To band the birds, first, we must find the birds. In my experience, fall hunting covers are great places to find migrating woodcock, but may not always be the best places for woodcock banding. In the springtime, male woodcock seek out natural and artificial openings in the forest canopy to perform their aerial and auditory displays. Female woodcock will most often go to the males on their singing grounds and then nest usually not too far away from these areas.
Young aspen is still the preferred cover for woodcock nesting in the Great Lakes states along with dense brush species, such as hazel, and can range from knee high cover to fairly tall saplings as long as the density is appropriate and the soil moisture is just right. Some years, when the snow is late to melt, it almost feels like the hens nest in the first available spot that opens up on the forest floor as soon as the warm spring sunshine can thaw it. These spots may not fit into anything you might read in literature, but that’s also not the norm.
Once a hen locates its preferred nesting site, it will lay four eggs (in her initial clutch; sometimes fewer in subsequent attempts) in a simple ground nest, which is usually a depression in the leaves and often found at the base of a sapling, stump or anywhere that’s a tiny bit out of the way so that a critter walking by won’t step on them. The hens will remain very still and become essentially invisible while incubating their eggs for 21 days until they hatch. The hen will only leave to feed and empty out away from her nest so as to not leave any scent nearby.
Banding Basics
Woodcock chicks are precocial, meaning that when they hatch, they’re mobile and able to feed independently basically as soon as they dry off. The hen will stick with them for their first month or so and then the brood will begin to spread out and begin their lives as solitary, worm-eating shorebirds. The feathers of a woodcock chick grow very rapidly and they’re able to make short flights as early as 10 days old. We consider the first two weeks after hatch to be the primary banding period, making our season as banders quite short, especially when the nests hatch around the same time. Woodcock are known for their abnormally long bills, which are typically 14 millimeters at hatch, and grow approximately 2 millimeter per day for the first several weeks of life until they’re fully grown. Using this information, we’re able to age chicks, which is accurate for the first three weeks or so, by measuring their bills using this basic equation:
Bill length – 14/2 = Age in days
Once we know there is a good likelihood of chicks hatching in our covers – and the weather conditions are favorable for banding – we begin to take our certified pointing dogs into the forest in search of timberdoodle broods. Once a brood is located, the dog is moved back and leashed to a nearby tree so we can work on the birds with the dog safely away from distractions (if we don’t catch the hen, she will usually be trying to lure us away from her brood).
The chicks are carefully picked up and placed into a bird banding bag. One at a time, each chick will be taken out, measured and have a small metal band affixed around its leg. Each band contains a unique number, which will become its identifier should that bird be harvested, recaptured or found at a later date. All data for each brood is recorded on datasheets, which are submitted to the National Bird Banding Laboratory. This way, a banded bird can be identified later – wherever it may be located – by the finder who can enter that number at ReportBand.gov. The banded chick is then placed into another banding bag so that all of the chicks are released together. Once that occurs, the bander and their dog will make a quiet and calm exit away from the brood.
An interesting note: Woodcock chicks are born with very large feet, which can safely hold the adult-sized band without worry that it will slip off or above the leg joint.
Send in the Dogs
Perhaps the most critical component of the volunteer woodcock banding program are the dogs!
Our pointing dogs are the main reason most of us do this. They’re why we love these birds so much – and we really couldn’t do it without them. However, this is serious work and there’s high potential for things to go wrong. Mistakes could result in dead birds, which is the last thing anyone wants. For that reason, we take our dog testing and certification protocol very seriously. Dogs must be trained and tested to a very high level to ensure not only the highest likelihood of success, but, more importantly, the least likelihood for failure. We must constantly hold ourselves accountable for our dog’s actions and know when to pull them from the field if they’re not performing above the standard. All of this is covered in our apprentice training program, which must be passed before an apprentice bander can even enter the woods with their dog under the supervision of a mentor.
At our annual training workshops in Minnesota and Wisconsin, hopeful new banders and their dogs are tested in the training fields on a simulated woodcock banding scenario to see how the handler and dog work together as a team. Banding dogs must demonstrate the ability to be steady through “wing and fall” and stay steady through the “flutter flight,” a tactic used by hen woodcock to lure predators away from their young, as well as the “broken wing display” mock test we set up.
We also run a “stop to flush” drill to check for that skill. This test is used to create a great amount of distraction for the dogs. The handlers are encouraged to handle their dogs as they normally would in the field. Our main goal in assessing these dogs is to verify steadiness and how trustworthy we feel they are before beginning the apprenticeship program. Not every dog will pass this scenario; however, we offer training advice and options for re-testing as needed and we want interested volunteers to come, ask questions and train hard for this. Understand it’s not easy, but as mentioned above, it’s critically important to maintain the highest level of safety for the birds.
Woodcock Minnesota Spring Banding Opportunities
Woodcock banding in the spring is truly one of the greatest citizen science activities available. The bond between handler and dog in this program is remarkable and there’s no greater feeling in the world than finding a hen woodcock with a brood of chicks at the other end of your dog’s nose and having a successful banding experience. The sense of pride and accomplishment is unmatched. Beyond the banding program, our volunteers and their dogs also assist with many American woodcock research studies as well as studies on other game birds. To find out more information on the 2024 woodcock banding workshops for Minnesota and Wisconsin, follow Woodcock Minnesota on Facebook or Instagram or contact WoodcockMinnesota@gmail.com with questions. The dates are not yet set for 2024 at this time; however, workshops are usually held early to mid-May during what we hope will be the peak woodcock chick hatch weekend. See you out there!
